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Well Iíve been reading everyoneís diaryís and thought itís such a good idea I would start one myself,Iím hoping to use it as a way to record my journey to freedom from debt and also to have somewhere to come and just offload stuff
My financial meltdown happened two weeks ago when I realised I just canít afford to pay my debts off properly,Iím sinking under the strain and jut adding more and more onto the total because itís just not sustainable. I came here and was given some brilliant advice then I went away and procrastinated for a week while pooping myself some more about what I am about to do I finally got my !!!! in gear this week and started the ball rollin by registering on the SC site and partially filling out the budget form,I then came unstuck because some of the info wasnít to hand,Iíve now sorted that and can proceed with finishing the budget form which I am doing tomorrow,by the end of this week I want to have contacted SC and set the ball rolling to set up a DMP.
I then had problems with my online account for one of my creditors but I sorted that out this morning whilst also finding out exactly what I owe them,it was actually not as much as I thought but still too much so swings and roundabouts !!!128522; actually sorting that out today took me ten minutes but itís taken me days to do it,I just get overwhelmed and put stuff off then before I know it another week has gone by and nothing has changed. Still Iíve done what I set out to do today and tomorrow is budget form day then I will see where I go from there
In other news I changed my phone provider on Saturday so now have a sim only deal for £9 a month instead of £20.02 plus I cancelled the insurance at £6 a month,Iíve also paid for the phone now too so there is a small saving,two weeks ago my phone contract was costing me £35 so Iím quite pleased with this new deal.
Ok I think thatís enough waffling for one day and I need to try and get some sleep,letís see what tomorrow brings

[QUOTE=Drawingaline;73852161]Wow you have been poorly! Hope you are on the road to recovery. But what a positive week with the debt sorting.[/QUOTE
It certainly has been a positive week debt wise,I feel more in control now,I know there will be bumps in the road but I feel up to taking on the challenge now,Im really hoping the doctor will be be able to fix me tomorrow but if itís just a virus then I just have to wait it out

Good that you feel more in control and have started the DMP process. Well done on cutting up the cards. I would urge you to start saving for an emergency fund. Did stepchange tell you to default on the credit card payments?

Hope you feel better soon.

Debt free and mortgage free and early retiree. Living the dream

I'm a Board Guide on the Debt-Free Wannabe, Mortgages, Banking and Budgeting boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Any views are mine and not the official line of moneysavingexpert.com. Pease remember, board guides don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com

Good that you feel more in control and have started the DMP process. Well done on cutting up the cards. I would urge you to start saving for an emergency fund. Did stepchange tell you to default on the credit card payments?

Hi,Ive sorted sorted the beginnings of an emergency fund ( £450.00) but will keep adding to it as and when I can,three of my creditors have been paid for this month one is my over draft with my old bank which Iíve stopped using and one is due to be paid on the 22nd,Iíve taken the money that they should have been paid and put it in my emergency fund,Iím going to phone them all this afternoon to let them know I am starting a DMP with Stepchange

Visited the docs this morning and as I suspected I have a chest infection,so I now have anti biotics to take and because my breathing was so bad they also gave me a ventolin inhaler,I had asthma when I was younger but havent had any treatment for it for 30 odd years she said Im not asthmatic but the chest infection is causing some asthma symptoms which should hopefully go away when the chest infection clears,I felt a bit better after I used it as I was having trouble breathing when I got to the surgery,Im now home in the warm and Im not intending to go anywhere now

The good news is that although I had to pay £17ish for the prescription I was able to pay in cash,this would normally have been an unbudgeted item and it would have gone on my CC but now I have an emergency fund I was able to use some of that I also got a bit of shopping while I was out as I had nothing for lunch so bread and other staples have been sorted,my daughter and her boyfriend go shopping tomorrow so Im going to ask them to get any other bits I need

I also had time to get to the post office so posted the DMP paperwork back to Stepchange and Im going to phone my creditors later to let them know Im entering a DMP
So thats my day so far,Ive taken my first antibiotics so hopefully they will start to work soon and I will start to feel better

Thanks Cherry,it was definitely a good thing I didnt go to work I can barely breath at the moment without having a massive coughing fit,it made calling my creditors interesting as I kept having to stop talking to get my breath back,hopefully I will start to get better now, even the dog is worried,she keeps coming and getting up on the sofa and snuggling up to me

I epent this afternoon calling my creditors and telling them my situation so that is another job ticked off, It seemed to take ages because I kept getting put on hold which was frustrating but once I got through to an actual person they were all very nice,Imjust not sure what to do about my old bank account now,Imnot sure who to,contact about my overdraft or if I should just wait until Stepchange contact them,I can now sit and wait to see what is going to happen next,Ive done everything I am supposed to do and its now up to the powers that be as to what happens next,I am now going to have a break from thinking about it for a bit and concentrate on getting better
Im hoping to do a bit more sewing later if I can calm this cough down,I managed three letters last night but didnt start until late and was too tired to do any more
Ive managed to wash all the towels today but not done anything else house wise as I feel too ill,I still havent made the banana bread,I think its going to have to roll over into tomorrow
Its also a good job I got all the financial stuff sorted by today because I found out yesterday that my daughter has got the next two weeks off so trying to phone people without her finding out would have been very difficult.......phew

Itís awful isnít it I am indeed exhausted and it hasnít helped having to sort all this financial stuff out this week,it was such a bad time to get ill,Iím so glad a I carried on though because itís all done now and I just have to wait the outcome

Yes lots done today,Ive just read back over my whole diary and its so nice to be able to see how far Ive come in the last few weeks,I was sooooo scared and upset when I posted that first entry and I literally couldnt stop shaking ,mentally I feel a lot better today just need to sort out the physical now and crack on with making that flaming banana bread,I got more bananas today though so if they ripen really quickly I will have a third for the recipe

Woke up this morning feeling worse than I did yesterday,I got up anyway and tried to eat breakfast but was unsuccessful as it made me feel sick
The chickens needed cleaning out and feeding so I managed to do that,DDs boyfriend took the dog out for a good long walk this morning so I didnt need to do that then I went back to bed for an hour,I didnt really sleep just closed my eyes and dozed a bit,I just cant stop coughing and the rattling in my chest is really annoying me
I got a text from my mum to both her and my dad are ill too with the same thing so thats worrying
DDs boyfriend got into the uni he wanted to go to so they have gone out for lunch with his mum to celebrate,I was invited but declined because I dont feel well enough and I cant really sit in a restaurant coughing constantly,so I am sitting here at home under a blanket in the warm
I had a banana and golden syrup sandwich for my lunch as that is what I fancied and I still havent made the flaming banana bread,I might just go and do that in a minute and sod the choking episode that will follow,as you can see I am feeling rather sorry for myself today
One slight positive is that I got a statement from my old Halifax credit card today which actually has a 0 balance but the last payment I made on it was too much and they now owe me £8.34,I havent a clue how to get it back but its quite a novel feeling actually not owing them anything

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit worse today. Hope the banana bread helps, sounds delicious.
I have heard that if you have a cough or sinus problems of any kind, you should avoid dairy products as it aggravates it. Might be worth trying while you feel so ill. Might help a bit. Also apple juice or pineapple juice is helpful.

Sorry to hear you are feeling a bit worse today. Hope the banana bread helps, sounds delicious.
I have heard that if you have a cough or sinus problems of any kind, you should avoid dairy products as it aggravates it. Might be worth trying while you feel so ill. Might help a bit. Also apple juice or pineapple juice is helpful.

Ive heard that too apparently dairy increases your mucus production,I only eat minimal amounts of dairy now I have dairy free spread Yogurts and soya milk its only if I have cheese that I end up eating dairy mainly because dairy free cheese is disgusting and expensive , for some strange reason I am addicted to ginger ale at the moment,I had a tummy bug two weeks ago and that was all I could drink and it seems I have formed quite an attachment to it

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